Morning Run
by Dara Tavar
Summary: A story about Ziva and Roy's thoughts as they run past each other every morning on their run.
1. Chapter 1

**I was watching _Dead Man Walking_ and was wondering what may have happened if Roy had actually survived. This is really just about their thoughts while running in the morning and when they see each other...then after NCIS has solved his murder. Enjoy!  
**

**Dara Tavar  
**

* * *

**Morning Run**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Five thirty.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Time to get up.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Time for her morning run.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Time to get another glimpse of the man with the orange hat.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Rolling over, Ziva turned her alarm clock off and sat up with a yawn. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she threw the covers off and stood up. Making her way to the bathroom, she splashed some cold water on her face in an attempt to wake herself up.

Walking into the kitchen, she made herself a quick breakfast consisting of two eggs and a piece of toast.

Returning to her bedroom, she stripped off her bedclothes and replaced them with her jogging clothes. After making her bed, she left her small house, locking the door behind her, before starting on her normal eight mile run.

It was a while before she saw an orange dot getting closer and closer to her. She smiled, recognizing the man that was always jogging the opposite way as her every day. When they passed, she glanced over her shoulder to watch him speeding away from her.

Smiling, she continued on her run but wondered who the man wearing the orange hat was. He seemed to be one of the only people who thought it was necessary to get up as early as her to go for a run, interested in some form of exorcise.

When she got home she thought of him again, wondering where he was running from everyday. It was the only time she'd ever seen him, so he must not be connected to the Marines in any way.

She sighed. It was probably a good thing that she hadn't met him through her job…if she had, then he would have either been a murder suspect or on Ducky's cold table in the basement of NCIS.

No, she probably would never meet him…but at least she still had their morning run.

- - -

Roy paced himself as he ran, wanting to save his energy. He still had a couple miles to go before he was done for the morning and he didn't want to wear himself out before he passed her again.

Sure, he had no idea who the woman was, but he caught a glimpse of her face every morning and knew she was pretty. Her dark hair was always pulled back from her face, her eyes usually focused on the ground so she didn't trip on anything…but when he passed he thought that her lips curved a little, twisting into a smile.

Perhaps she'd noticed him too.

No, he didn't know her, didn't know a thing about her. He had no idea what her name was, where she lived, if she had a boyfriend…but he did know that she ran every morning.

That was what he looked forward to. Every morning he got up thinking he would get yet another glimpse at her, see her dark eyes meet his for that one instant as they passed, see the way her lips curved when she looked up. He couldn't wait to see her.

He never got a very good look at her face of course, he only saw her for a few seconds every morning in the growing light of dawn. It was usually just beginning to get lighter when they came across one another, but he tried to get a better look at her each morning.

He saw a yellow dot on down the trail and found himself smiling. There she was. As he came closer to her he sped up a little bit. He watched as he lips curved and her eyes rose to meet his, giving a slight nod before she was gone once again.

He glanced over his should to watch her running on, getting farther away from him with every step she took. One day…one day he was going to stop her and ask for her name.

He knew he'd never met her, so she didn't work at a plant that handled radioactive objects, otherwise he probably would have seen her. As an inspector of said plants, it was his job to look over the workers doing their job.

He let out his breath and thought about the mysterious yellow parka woman. If she didn't work at a plant that he had to inspect one day he doubted they would ever meet unless he really did just stop her, ask for her name and maybe even if she wanted to get a cup of coffee with him sometime.

No, he probably wouldn't meet her since he didn't think he could just stop her and talk to her…but he would always have their morning run.

- - -

Roy looked up, smiling as Ziva entered his hospital room. It had been a couple of days since she'd come to see him and he'd missed her. He knew she had a lot of paper work to do over his case, let alone her own life…not revolving around him, but that didn't mean that he hadn't been wishing she were with him again.

"Ziva, I've missed talking to you. It gets boring in here when no one will talk to me. I even have to go on a walk in the garden alone...alright, with one of the nurses, but it's not the same without you." He teased, standing up and moving to her side. "So, what's it like not having to follow me everywhere now that you've solved the case of my murder?"

"Attempted murder, you're not dead." She corrected with a smile. "It's the same as it was before for the most part. But, tell me, what's it like knowing that tomorrow you can leave this hospital and go home?" she asked.

He laughed. "It feels get, but I'm a little restless. They had me staying in here, because I'm apparently not allowed to go out into the gardens alone." He sent her a pleading look. "Go with me please, Ziva. I'll go crazy if I have to stay in here one more minute."

She laughed and nodded, leading him out of the hospital as she asked him what all he'd done while she'd been gone. He went into great detail while explaining what he'd done, wanting her to feel as though she'd been there with him.

Ziva told him about what she'd done, including how she went on her morning run as usual. She left out the part about missing passing him though. She wasn't sure how he felt about her, and she didn't want to be too forward if he only thought of her as a friend that he could talk to.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they sat looking at the ducks on the small pond in the hospital's gardens. After nearly an hour Ziva told Roy that she had to be going so they made their way inside again.

Gathering her stuff up from inside his room, she started for the door when he stopped her, calling out her name from where he sat on the bed. Turning around, she waited patiently for him to continue.

"Ziva…" he trailed off, wondering if he should continue. When she continued waiting, he sighed and decided to just ask her. "Will I ever see you again?"

She blinked, and then smiled warmly at him. The sweet smiled softened her normally serious features and he couldn't help smiling back. "We'll always have our morning run." Was her reply before turning and leaving.

- - -

Ziva went about her morning as she usually did. Up at five-thirty, breakfast, change clothes, make bed, and then head out for her run.

She was lost in thought for the longest time, wondering how Roy was doing now that he was home again and if he was going to start running again soon. It would be nice to see him again, to see how he was going now that he was healthy again.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the man running in her direction…wearing an orange hat.

Looking up and seeing the orange dot bobbing up and down as it got closer to her, Ziva started to slow. When she made out his smiling features, she smiled back and slowed down.

He slowed so that they came to a stop several feet away from one another, both of them just smiling.

"Roy…should you be running so soon after getting out of the hospital?" she asked, unable to keep from smiling at him. She'd missed him so much that it almost scared her. How could she care about someone as much as she cared about him?

Roy laughed, moving forward and holding out his hand, which she took without hesitation. Pulling her closer, he started walking back the way he'd come. "I didn't want to miss our morning run. Besides, I think I owe you at least a cup of coffee for keeping me alive."

"A cup of coffee?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and eyeing him in what she hoped looked like suspicion. "And don't worry; it's my job to keep you alive."

He laughed again, shaking his head. "No, your job is to solve murdered Marine's cases. We already talked about that remember? You don't normally work with the living unless they're suspects or the closest of kin to whoever was killed." He replied matter-of-factly.

Soon they were seated in a small coffee shop, sipping at the drinks and talking about whatever they thought of. It was nice to be able to see each other out of the hospital, without the threat of Roy's death hanging over them.

It wasn't long before they both needed to head home, shower, and go to work. Roy paid for their drinks, claiming Ziva wasn't allowed, and soon they were making their way back to the path they'd left before.

Ziva looked up at Roy and smiled. "I guess this is goodbye until tomorrow morning." She was hoping that he wanted to see her again, but didn't want him to know in case he felt nothing similar to what she felt.

He shook his head. "No." When she quickly masked her disappointment he laughed. She wasn't fast enough for him not to have caught the look on her face. She wanted to see him again. "We'll see each other tonight when we have dinner."

"Dinner?" she asked, sounding confused. She looked like that was the last thing she'd thought he was going to say, but there was a pleasure in her eyes that he took as a good sign.

"Yes. Dinner." He smiled at her. "You know, when two people who are interested in each other go out on a date. They eat, maybe catch a movie or go on a walk…whatever they want to do."

Ziva couldn't completely hide her smile. "A date. Yes, that would be nice."

Roy smiled again, planning out where he would take her. It would be a nice, sit-down restaurant with a romantic atmosphere. Then they might walk through the park. "I'll call you when you get off work." He stated. She'd given him her number when they'd learned that he was going to recover.

"Alright." She replied, glancing at her watched and sighing. "I have to go or else I'll be late for work. And if I'm late for work then Gibbs will kill me when I get there…not to mention Tony will give me a hard time just for the fun of it."

"So we'll have dinner tonight." He stated, pulling off his hat and, with a smile, stepping forward to pull it down over her head. He messed with it for a moment so that it was just right. The smile she gave him made him lean forward and kiss her lightly.

Just before they turn and went their opposite ways, Ziva replied, "And we'll always have our morning run."


	2. Chapter 2

**This is a massive update for anyone reading my stories:**

**It was recently brought to my attention that someone had stolen one of my stories and, only making the smallest amount of changes possible, was passing it off on their own. I alerted the site to this plagiarism, but so far nothing has been done. The other author updated their story recently, telling me that the site has so far done nothing concerning this problem. If nothing is done about this within the next few weeks, I've come to the decision that I will delete my account on here and never again put anything on this website.**

**To anyone who still wishes to read what I write, I will happily accept a message with an email or even if you just want to give me your profile url and I'll be happy to continue writing elsewhere and send you the link where you can find my stories as long as no one steals my stuff to post it on here (if there are any particular kind of stories, a certain movie or book, tell me and I'll message you whenever I write something to do with it). If I find out something like that happens, I'll be done writing online for sure.**

**I hope this matter is resolved, because I love writing on here and getting reviews, I only wish I got more. ****I get author alerts or story alerts, but I would love more reviews. In reality, reviews only trickle in little by little and while it's nice to be put on someone's alert list, that doesn't tell me how I'm going or give me anything to think about doing for the next chapters. If you like my stories, please REVIEW and tell me how much you like them, things you want me to do, suggestions for a spin-off story(or stories)...anything will be fine.**

**Well, lets just hope this gets fixed.**

**Dara Tavar  
**


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